AMY JENKINS
The creator of This Life is the latest author to tap into the thirtysomething single female market. Enough already! Will there be no end to the Bridget JONES literary ll‘ldUStl‘Y? Words: Brian Donaldson
Chasin Amy
IT'S AN ACT OF THE GROSSEST NAIVETY to suppose that the conclusion of a numerical period of time heralds some kind of seismic cultural watershed.
The last days of disco. the death of
punk. the end of history; none of them had their estimated demises on 3] December of any year.
In the literary world. there were no fireworks or countdowns as the Beat generation. Bretl.it brigade and the Bloomsbury set all uttered their last paragraphs. So. it should come as little surprise that the dawning of the year 2000 failed to act as a final curtain to the most tedious movement of them all. A movement which has no name and hence more difficult to insert an adjectival curse before its damned genre.
If pushed. you could classify these books as a ‘Thirtysomething single female possibly called Bridget McBeal whose ultimate dream is a life on the set of Sex And The (‘irv‘ sub- genre. The central character‘s major (and only) dilemma involves a complex debate within herself about
men and whether she should marry one. have an affair with one or give them up completely.
So. even when you thought it was safe to go back into the bookshops. a rash of these damn things have continued to spew from publishers‘ portals. A period of one month alone has produced cloned efforts such as Melissa Hunt‘s The (iirls' (irrirle To Hunting xllld Fishing (‘as enjoyable as a night in watching Sex And The (it-i"); Victoria Routledge‘s Kiss Him Goodbye (‘one girl. two flatmates and a room without a view . . .‘l: Polly
Samson's Lying In Bed (‘Iales of
lopsided love‘ ); Sophia Watson‘s ()nly Pretending ( 'a Joanna Trollope for the liulham Road‘ )1 and Sherry Ashworth‘s ()Iherivise linguger/ (‘a brilliantly funny novel of marriage and mayhem‘). Not to mention Adele Parks” Playing Aivrrv (say no more) and the upcoming India Knight story My Life On A I’lure which asks: ‘Everyone wants to be married: don’t they?\
Not that it is a purely female
How could the mind which concocted one of the hippest, sharpest, ratings and reviews- friendly British TV series ever, possibly go wrong? Quite dramatically and horribly so, it appears.
pursuit as the likes of Mike Gayle. Tony Parsons and Tim Lott are all recent converts to this losers‘ cause. Were key messiahs Nick Hornby and Helen Fielding to hole themselves tip in a safe haven and take the whole sorry lot of them in a Waco-esque storm. who would shed a tear'.’
So. when the news emerged that This Life‘s creator Amy Jenkins was set to release her debut novel which threatened to tread the same relationship territory. hopes were raised that the genre was to get an overdue facelift. How could the mind which concocted one of the hippest. sharpest. ratings and reviews-friendly British TV series ever. possibly go wrong? Quite dramatically and horribly so. it appears.
Hrmeymmin‘s tagline is ‘who is the love of your life‘." and follows our heroine Honey (obviously) who carries a torch for her one true love Alex. Despite her dalliance with him being hardly even of the one-night stand variety. her feelings threaten to overshadow her imminent nuptials
Where are they now?
You loved their boozing, smoking, bitching, shagging and hand-held camera ways. 50 what's the verdict on the afterlife of This Life’s gang? Words: Doug Johnstone
was in some wee film about some 'talented’ guy. Mr Ripley or something? Got strangled by him at the end. He was also in the spooky vampire romp
of the Scottish weekend newspaper supplements, Daniela still seems more famous for her ice cream dynastic family than her acting ability. She’s been
Name lack Davenport. Character The smarmy, self-centred, go-getting lawyer Miles.
After This Life Nothing. Absolutely zip. Disappeared without trace. Oh no, wait a minute, he
18 THE “ST 2/ Apr i l Hay 2000
U/travio/et and spooky ghostly romp The Wyvern Mystery. And he's about to demonstrate his comic timing skills in new relationship sitcom Coup/mg.
Success Rating 4/5. An Oscar-winning Hollywood film gets him points, but he's not quite in the Brad Pitt league yet. Boy done some good, though.
Name Daniela Nardini. Character Anna, the bolshie, no~shit, man- eating Scottish lawyer. After This Life Despite being an absolute darling
ticking over with television work though, appearing in both the female drama Big Women and the wobbly- camera cop series Undercover Heart.
Success Rating 3/5. In serious danger of being typecast as ’that nippy, gobby Scottish lass', Daniela needs to try some more diverse and challenging roles.
Name Jason Hughes. Character Warren, the gay, Welsh lawyer who got in trouble in a public toilet. After This Life Well, Jason